Friday, January 3, 2014

Dragon Gate USA Uprising 2012 Review

The Open The United Gate Tag Team Titles headline the second night of this three show weekend!

Dragon Gate USAUprising 2012

Voorhees, New Jersey 11/3/12

DVD Bonus Match

1.) ACH vs. Eita: ***1/4

This was a pre-show matches taped exclusively for the DVD. It was a very good match. Both guys got a fair deal of time and put on a really competitive match where they both looked good. ACH would get the win. Two things: Firstly, why wasn't this match on the iPPV? It was certainly good enough to be. Second, Dragon Gate USA really missed a big opportunity in not signing ACH. Now he's in Ring of Honor.

Bryce Remsburg, who was on commentary, notes that Jigsaw & Fire Ant's tag team is also known as the Electric Cherry Starship Project, which is actually a cool yet weird name. This was a very good opening match. It's exactly the kind of match that should open a show. Their was a lot of really good action and was a lot of fun. Fire Ant & Jigsaw get the victory.

Afterwords, The Scene attacks The D.U.F., taking out Pinkie Sanchez, but Marti Belle saves them from a further beating.

2.) Akira Tozawa vs. Samuray del Sol: ***3/4

This was another match that I was really looking forward to on this weekend of shows. I thought it was pretty great! Tozawa is mad over and seemingly never fails to have a great match. Samuray del Sol looks pretty awesome here as well. Definitely one of the best matches of the weekend. Tozawa picks up the win.

Jon Davis comes out, and talks about how he took out Gargano at Fearless and that he should vacant his title. Johnny Gargano's music hits and the champ comes out with a ref. He wants their match and we get it!

3.) Non-Title Anything Goes Match – Johnny Gargano vs. Jon Davis: DUD

Davis hits Gargano with a few lariats and defeats the champ in short order. What the hell was that? Why did they have to do that segment the night before and have what was essentially a squash match here? They could have easily just had Davis defeat Gargano cleanly in a competitive anything goes match.

After the match, Davis sets up a table on the outside but Gargano is rushed to the back by referees. As Davis heads to the back, Gargano dives off a ladder through the entrance curtain onto Davis. They brawl for a little bit before Gargano puts Davis through a table, which doesn't break. Again, why couldn't we have just had a regular match?

4.) Ricochet & Rich Swann vs. The Super Smash Brothers: ***3/4

SSB got this match as kind of a consolation prize after losing the #1 Contender's Match at Fearless. This was a really good match that was honestly a lot of fun to watch. The poor crowd reactions actually hurt it a little bit. If this had taken place on a PWG Show, it would probably be well above four stars. The Super Smash Brothers get a huge victory.

This is kind of an odd match as its two heel trios going at it. Cheech Hernandez (formerly of Cheech & Cloudy) is getting a "tryout" with The Scene here. Not the best match in the world, but it was fun for what it was. It had it's moments for sure. The Gentleman's Club get the win here.

6.) 2/3 Falls Match – El Generico vs. Sami Callihan: ***1/4

These two had a match back at Evolve 13 where Callihan snapped afterwords and got suspended for his actions, so this match came about as a result of that. Callihan got the first fall pretty quickly. El Generico would later pick up the second fall, but Callihan got the third fall to finally win the match. It was a good match, but it also seemed a bit underwhelming. Given the guys involved, you would have expected it to be a little better. I think the various questions about Callihan's creative direction at the time had a bit to do with it.

The Jimmyz defeated the Super Smash Brothers at Fearless to earn this title shot. It was a pretty good match on the whole. All four guys worked really hard, but once again, the weak crowd prevented this from being any better. It had good action and it really picked up as the match progressed. CIMA & AR Fox would get the win and retain their titles.

After the match, CIMA says AR Fox will become the Open The Freedom Gate Champion the next night at Freedom Fight, but Sami Callihan comes out, and says CIMA should be worrying about his match with the Callihan Death Machine.

Overall: 7.75/10

On the whole, Uprising was definitely a step up from Fearless. You have two really great matches in Tozawa/del Sol and SSB/Ricochet & Swann plus some solid undercard matches and a good main event title match. The live crowds continue to be an issue. It sucks that they're having weak crowds, because when they put on really good shows, it hurts. The weird booking of the Davis/Gargano feud also puts a bit of a damper on things. Despite this, the show does have a pretty good set of matches and I'd say it's worth checking out.